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713. We ALL Match on Queen’s Day (April 30)

And April 30, 2013 marked a particularly historic day for the Kingdom of the Netherlands:

Willem Alexander of the House of Orange-Nassau became our first king in 123 years as his mother, Queen Beatrix — the third successive Dutch queen to abdicate — ended her 33-year reign. In his inauguration speech, Willem-Alexander promised to continue his mother’s course and stressed the need to respect diversity “however varied our backgrounds, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands everyone can have a voice and can contribute to society on an equal footing.”

King Willem-Alexander receiving a kiss from his mother, Beatrix. His wife, Maxima and the rest of Orange Nation looked on. Source: Jeroen Van Der Meyde/Dutch Royal House.

I happened to be in Curaçao for the historic celebration, my first (and last) Queen’s Day in 12 years. Going forward we will be celebrating Koningsdag (King’s Day) on April 27, Willem-Alexander’ birthday.

Queen’s Day was celebrated in Willemstad: orange crowds gathered at (Pedro Luis) Brionplein in Otrobanda, Wilhelmina Plein, Kleine Werf and Pietermaai Smal in Punda. Folks sold their old and new stuff, games were played, crafts were made, and lots of fun was had… I tried to cover some of the festivities with my camera… and recently woke up to this Facebook message from Annelies Heyer: